There has been a variety of devices or appliances configured for catamenial devices. Generally there have been offered two basic kinds of feminine protection device. These are sanitary napkins or pads that have been developed for external use, and tampons that have been developed for residence within the vaginal cavity and interruption of menstrual flow therefrom.
The positioning of feminine hygiene devices so as to stay in the proper location and be comfortable and unobtrusive has been of continuing interest in feminine hygiene. The use of pads or feminine napkins held in place by a belt attached to tabs on the feminine napkins was the traditional method of holding pads in place for many years. Now, the majority of external feminine products are held in place against the undergarment of the user by utilization of pressure-sensitive adhesives. Such pressure-sensitive adhesives are placed on the back of a feminine pad and covered by a peel strip that is removed prior to attachment of the pad onto the undergarment of the wearer. The use of such adhesives presents several disadvantages. Among these disadvantages are that the adhesive may stick too firmly to the undergarment and make removal difficult. A second disadvantage is that the adhesive may discolor the undergarment, and a third disadvantage is that the pad may tear apart at the time of removal. Furthermore, the cost of adhesives and the peel strips necessary to cover them is a significant portion of the cost of the feminine pad. Adhesives can also cause discomfort if the feminine pad is inadvertently placed upside down in the undergarment such that the adhesive contacts the body.
Therefore, it would be desirable to make a product which would not require a pressure-sensitive adhesive, but could adequately maintain its position within the undergarment of the wearer and in correct placement on the body.
Other methods of maintaining pads for absorption of human exudate have been proposed. It has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,490 issued to White head et al., that a pad be provided with a polyurethane foam laminated to the backing element of the pad. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,148 issued to Beckstrom, an incontinence device is proposed that has a friction-increasing strip fixed to the underside of the garment. And in U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,211 issued to Lenaghan, the use of a velcro material in contact with the foam outer surface of a feminine pad is utilized as a placement mechanism. However, the above materials suffer from the disadvantage that the foam materials are relatively high in cost and require adhesive connection to the undergarments. Further, such materials have not been shown to be particularly preferred by the users of the undergarments to which they are attached. Therefore, there is a continuing need for an improved system for a nonpressure-sensitive adhesive system for holding catamenial devices in place that is low in cost and effective.